Rosemary vs. Sage: Two Salvias, Two Different Oils

Rosemary and sage can cover for each other in a roast, but they don’t taste the same, and the amount changes depending on which way you’re swapping. They even share a genus now: botanists moved rosemary into Salvia, so garden sage is Salvia officinalis and rosemary is Salvia rosmarinus. In the pan they still act like different herbs. Sage’s smell comes mainly from thujones, while rosemary’s oil is led by α-pinene and 1,8-cineole. That’s why sage comes across musky and bitter and rosemary piney.¹²

Side by side

How the oils compare

The cleanest like-for-like comparison we found is in one reference work. PROSEA’s handbook reports one Spanish oil of each herb. They come from different studies, so it’s not a single-lab measurement, but the scope matches: a Spanish essential oil, by percentage.

Sources: PROSEA rosemary entry (Arnold et al., 1997)³ and PROSEA sage entry (Sanchez-Gomez et al., 1995).¹

That rosemary oil is a camphor type, and rosemary varies a lot. A 2017 study of oils from plants collected in six countries found them dominated by α-pinene (13.5 to 37.7%) and 1,8-cineole (16.1 to 29.3%), with camphor at only 0.7 to 7.0%, and identified at least five chemotypes.² Sage varies too. An Italian oil in PROSEA had more β-thujone (26.9%) than α-thujone (23.0%). What stays constant is that thujones lead sage oil, and PROSEA credits them with sage’s strong signature smell.¹ Rosemary’s warm, piny note is credited to α-pinene and its camphor-like bite to borneol.³

The real differences in the kitchen

Strength. The University of Delaware puts both in its strong-herb group and warns that strong herbs can be extremely objectionable if you use too much.⁵ Elizabeth Okosun of Tasting Table says sage tastes very similar to rosemary but more intense,⁶ and A Couple Cooks uses half as much sage when it replaces rosemary.⁷ You’ll often read that rosemary is clearly the stronger of the two. We couldn’t find a source behind that.

Timing. America’s Test Kitchen counts both as hearty herbs that go in early.⁸ In ATK’s tests, dried rosemary and dried sage both did reasonably well in dishes cooked for more than 20 minutes with plenty of liquid.⁹

Texture. Rosemary’s needles stay tough, so chop them fine or use whole sprigs and fish them out. Sage leaves are soft, and they crisp up nicely when fried briefly in butter or oil.

Forms. Dried sage comes whole, rubbed or ground. Rubbed sage is made by rubbing the dried leaves together, and ground (powdered) sage is a fine powder. See fresh sage vs. dried sage and dried rosemary vs. fresh for conversions within each herb.

Where each is used. Sage’s spice uses run to sausages, stuffings, soups and canned vegetables, and the fresh leaves go in herb butters, cheeses and salads. Rosemary goes with meats, vegetables, soups and beverages. They often show up together. McCormick’s culinary poultry seasoning lists thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, black pepper and nutmeg, in that order.¹⁰ Beyond those sources, rosemary is a natural with lamb, potatoes and focaccia, and sage with pork, poultry stuffing, winter squash and brown butter.

Can one stand in for the other?

Yes, in cooked savory dishes. The published ratios just aren’t symmetrical.

Both figures come from the same publisher but two separate articles, and side by side they imply different views of which herb is stronger. Neither says how it was worked out. Our rosemary substitutes and sage substitutes pages use these figures and suggest tasting as you go. A Couple Cooks adds that rosemary works especially well as a sage substitute when it’s fresh.¹¹

Two cautions:

• A rule of one third as much dried rosemary for rubbed sage gets passed around a lot. We found no source for it.
• Neither herb belongs raw in large amounts. Chop rosemary very fine if it’s going into a finished dish.

Safety

The FDA lists both as spices generally recognized as safe.⁴ The European Medicines Agency names sage and rosemary among plants that contain thujone in highly variable amounts.¹² NCCIH says sage is likely safe in the amounts found in foods but may be unsafe during pregnancy because of its thujone.¹³ The EMA concluded that the benefits of sage essential oil don’t outweigh its risks.¹² That’s about the concentrated oil, not the dried leaf. See the sage profile for details.

What isn’t known

• We found no study analyzing rosemary and sage oils in the same lab. The table above pairs two Spanish oils from different studies.
• We found no measurement of thujone in a teaspoon of either culinary herb.

Related

• Profiles: rosemary and sage
• Substitutes: rosemary substitutes and sage substitutes
• Comparisons: rosemary vs. lavender, sage vs. lavender, rosemary vs. thyme and tarragon vs. rosemary
• Cooking: cooking with rosemary, cooking with sage, how to dry sage and poultry seasoning